Takeout and transfer apparatus and method for a wheel blow molding machine

Abstract

Apparatus and method for transferring hollow blow molded articles from a vertically disposed wheel blow molding machine to a horizontally-disposed takeaway conveyor. Each mold on the wheel releases multiple blown articles at the six o'clock position on the wheel such that the articles fall freely from the wheel. An inclined end of a takeaway conveyor is located directly underneath the six o'clock position in order to receive the free falling blown articles and transport them to a horizontal transporting section of the takeaway conveyor. Flanges which extend upwardly from the conveying surface of the takeaway conveyor in combination with a powered endless positioning belt which extends a spaced distance along the inclined receiving end are utilized to confine the blown articles on the receiving end and uniformly position the blown articles on the takeaway conveyor.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]The present application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09 / 877,892 filed on Jun. 8, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,669,461.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to a transfer mechanism and method for efficiently transferring blow-molded articles from a vertically-disposed wheel blow molding machine to a horizontally-disposed takeaway conveyor, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus in which blown articles are released in free fall from a wheel blow molding machine and are positioned in an orderly uniform manner on a takeaway conveyor for transport to further operations, such as trimming.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]One type of blow molding machine utilized to manufacture blow molded containers is a wheel blow molding machine which is vertically disposed and rotates about a horizontal axis. An example is illustrated in FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,597 issued to Aguilar et al...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]Another object of the present invention is to provide a high-speed bottle transfer system capable of transferring at least about 500 to about 850 bottles per minute from a vertically-disposed wheel blow molding machine to a horizontally-disposed conveyor.

[0012]A further object of the present invention is to provide a high-speed bottle transfer system which requires no significant preventative maintenance and which experiences minimal, if any, downtime.

Problems solved by technology

The increased rate of forming bottles in a wheel blow molding machine and the use of multiple parisons for forming multiple blown articles in each mold significantly complicates the task of removing blown articles from a wheel blow molding machine and placing the blown articles in a uniform position on a horizontally disposed takeaway conveyor.

In addition, vacuum and / or mechanical pick and place machines have relatively complicated structures and are relatively expensive to build and / or purchase.

They require frequent maintenance and are prone to experiencing mechanical and pneumatic failures.

The downtime of the pick and place machines can significantly reduce the overall rate of manufacture of containers.

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